


Inbetween.

by maryeols (rosyemperor)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: I'm Sorry, M/M, and this came out, i don't even know what this is, i just had writer's block, this is so weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 19:23:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11191752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosyemperor/pseuds/maryeols
Summary: Baekhyun disappears as the light goes.





	Inbetween.

The sun is long gone when Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s eyes lock. The night paints the street a deep blue that merges with the shadows casted by the two of them, that stand right in the middle of what should be a highly transited avenue, except it’s empty. The city is not awake, not yet, but it is not asleep either. The whole world feels like it is about to fade and about to burst at the same time. The tilting red light from a building nearby goes off, and Chanyeol looks down.

He only ever meets Baekhyun like that, a moment that doesn’t last enough for Chanyeol to get as close to him as he desperately needs. In fact, he never gets to cross whatever is separating them without the shorter boy disappearing, like he was never there. Chanyeol is starting to wonder if Baekhyun is even real.

His memories of Baekhyun are real, that much he is sure of. He remembers when he could touch Baekhyun, his soft tiny hands which lingered over Chanyeol’s chest whenever they had the chance. His pouty, rosy lips adorned with a mole that used to devour him -to which he pleasantly surrendered-. He remembers Baekhyun’s giggle, that appeared every second. What he remembers the most, though, are Baekhyun’s eyes. He still gets to meet Baekhyun’s eyes, but they are never the same. The warmth, the fierceness, the spark. It’s all gone, and ironically, the eyes are what Chanyeol misses the most, because they were Baekhyun, so Baekhyun it hurt to think of them.

Chanyeol thought they were happy. They led a simple life in the city, they followed the rules, they did their jobs, they got paid for it, and they were left alone to go on with their lives, like everyone else. They were happy, _Chanyeol was happy_. Maybe Baekhyun wanted more of life, he didn’t know, the shorter boy never said anything. Chanyeol never thought Baekhyun wanted to explore The Night, but he also knew The Night had its ways; that’s why they had to adhere to a curfew, stick to some ways. The Light had lost so many to The Night… and no one knew exactly what happened, because no one ever came back.

They were happy, Chanyeol thought, but as days went on, Baekhyun disappeared as the sun set.

And so Chanyeol deemed the curfew unnecessary without Baekhyun. He was no longer happy, he felt unable to keep performing his job. He would soon be deemed unfit for the light, and thrown in a House of Recovery, where they would erase Baekhyun, and every other memory they resulted were the cause of the lack of efficiency.

Baekhyun appeared again when The Night reigned.

Chanyeol couldn’t sleep, the bed was too cold, and the nights were getting longer and longer. The Night had always been dark, so dark it was opaque and nothing could be seen apart from a pitch black that was even hurtful. But that day, The Night was blue, and something was tilting on the sky, emitting a faint light that was enough for Chanyeol to make out his own bedroom. Before, The Night had gulped every neon sign from the buildings, but now it didn’t, and they reflected on Chanyeol’s glass window. He knew he wasn’t supposed to, but his body was standing before he could even think about it. The tall boy knew he was not supposed to stare at the pitch black of The Night because it always stared back, but that was not The Night he knew.

He pressed his face against the window, his nose clenched so hard it physically hurt. The city at night was a sight to behold. The streets turned a faint blued that was tinted with the lights that came from the buildings. Pink, red, purple… All splattered on the asphalt so beautifully it looked like a painting, and Chanyeol wanted more of it. He wondered if The Night had always been like that, instead of a hole of darkness as he has always believed. Maybe that was why many people were lost to The Night, it was a hundred times more intriguing that The Light.

Everything he had ever known seemed so mundane and dull now. The Night seemed more alive than The Light and its jobs had ever been. He just wanted more and more of it, and he tried to get it all. He wanted an out, he wanted to fall into its embrace.

And then, he saw Baekhyun. He was across the street, dressed like the last time he saw him: a red silky pyjama, that hung loosely around his tiny body and white rabbit slippers. His hair was as dishevelled as Chanyeol was used to observe every morning when the other woke up. He looked beautiful, almost ethereal. But he didn’t look real, Chanyeol noticed as he looked closely. Baekhyun seemed to emit a golden glow, and he didn’t walk like the real Baekhyun would, he was much more slow, dragging his feet instead of almost jumping, but still…

He was real enough, Chanyeol decided. But when Baekhyun made eye contact, he disappeared.

It was only then when Chanyeol realised he was about to fall.

Next time, he decided he would be prepared, and so he didn’t go to sleep. He stayed awake the whole night, and, once again, it didn’t go dark. It was blue instead, but the air of mystery was not lost.

The lanky boy sat on a chair he had disposed in the doorway of his building. Not out, yet he could still observe the whole street within the relative safety of his apartment. The Night was long, Chanyeol noticed, and it seemed empty, nothing alike the image he had witnessed the night before, not as enticing, not as calling.

Finally, Baekhyun appeared, just like the night before. The street was empty, only the two of them as Chanyeol rampaged out of his building like a Fury. A blue light painted the streets. The sun had been long gone when Chanyeol met Baekhyun’s eyes, but as soon as he let go, the other disappeared. The Light was starting to reclaim its realm, and Chanyeol was safe now that the city was awake.

 

The noise of cars halted Chanyeol. He had fallen asleep on the job, again, and Yoona had decided there was no other way to wake him than revving up the car he was supposed to be driving.

 “Why are you so tired today, Yeol?”

The deer-eyed girl inquired, a hint of worry in her voice. Her big eyes searched Chanyeol’s face, and her hand was on his shoulder, massaging it for comfort.

“I…”

The boy hesitated to answer, he trusted Yoona. She had been his friend for longer than he could remember. The two of them grew together, attended the School of the Light together and, eventually, started to work together. The frail-looking girl was the first one to know about Baekhyun, and the first one to meet him. She was loving and comprehensive, but still Chanyeol was adamant to let her know about his fling with The Night, he feared she would get a heart attack.

“Tell me.”

She half-commanded, half-pledged. And Chanyeol complied.

“I have witnessed The Night, Yoong.”

If she was surprised, she didn’t show at all. The girl didn’t even bat an eye, she just resorted to tighten the hold on Chanyeol’s shoulder, bringing him closer.

“I know The Night can be tempting, and I know it shows you exactly what you want to see. I know, Chanyeol. I know what you’ve observed, but it’s not real.”

She seemed so determined, so sure.

“What do you know?”

“More than I’d like.”

It was cutting, really, and the conversation ended, like that.

Chanyeol couldn’t shake the bad feeling that reeled over his body like another layer of skin. The Night was dangerous, but The Night had Baekhyun, and even if Yoona assured him it was not real, he had to see Baekhyun again.

He was going to stay awake that night, but he was not planning on looking at Baekhyun’s eyes. He would cross the street, up until Baekhyun, and he was going to take his hand and carry him home. He knew that now, Yoona would try to stop him, but she was not going to be as fast as she’d need to be. He was wrong, though, and Yoona was not stupid enough to miss the curfew.

He sat on his chair again, later that night, and waited. He waited as some shadows he had never noticed danced on the streets, as the whole avenue seemed to had been gulped down in blue. He waited until he saw the rabbit slippers, and then, he wandered into The Night.

Not looking up was harder than he thought. He dragged his feet across the street, because it seemed impossible to lift them up. The asphalt felt like jelly, or maybe that were his legs. He was shivering, a sudden cold freezing him up. But he was determined.

Finally, he stumbled upon his love, catching his hand. But the short boy refused to go with him.

“Let go of me, Chanyeol.”

The shorter boy begged, shaking Chanyeol away.

“I don’t exist. -he continued- I am between the what is, and what is not. I am just this moment between The Night and The Light. Between awake and asleep. I’m not here Chanyeol, so let me go.”

But Chanyeol refused to let go. He hung onto Baekhyun’s body until Baekhyun stopped fighting.

The following day, two bodies were found on the middle of the street by a deer-eyed girl who instead of crying, smiled looking at the shadows.

Shadows were the realm of The Night, and both Chanyeol and Baekhyun had finally reached it.

**Author's Note:**

> I just wrote this in a while, I don't know what this is but I've been not writing for months... So this came out and well, practice makes the master or whatever. I hope you liked this weird one shot.


End file.
